{Dr. Oz 3 Day Cleanse} Day 2

IDay 2 started out a little rocky! I had to have blood work this morning so I wasn't able to  eat breakfast  drink my shakes first thing this morning. I prepare my shakes the night before, thankfully, so I was able to grab my breakfast and lunch shakes and head out the door. While I remembered to grab the coffee mug and green tea bag, I failed to grab the lemon to add to the tea. Boo! Hopefully the lack of lemon didn't effect the outcome of the cleanse too drastically. 

When I was finally able to drink my tea I started to feel a little nauseous. About that time my sister, who is doing the cleanse with me, sent me a text to tell me she was feeling nauseous as well. I remembered reading that nausea can be a side effect of the cleanse due to toxins leaving my body so I wasn't too concerned.  

I decided to attempt the breakfast shake although I was feeling nauseous because I assumed the nausea was a normal side effect and would pass. Thankfully that was the right choice and after finishing the breakfast shake I was feeling much better about day 2!  

I am thrilled to tell you that the lunch shake was so much better today! I made two modifications in hopes of making the shake more palatable! First, I didn't put the shake in the freezer. Yesterday, I decided the freezer would make it taste better because surely a frozen green drink is better than a warm green drink right? Wrong! Freezing the shake made it thicker and a very undesirable consistency. Today I decided to just keep it in the refrigerator and the consistency was so much easier to consume. Yay! Secondly, I decided to squeeze the lime juice into the shake rather than blend the actual lime into the shake. I thought the lime flavor was too strong on Day 1 so I was hopeful this option would help and it definitely did! I'm extremely surprised to say that I actually enjoyed the lunch shake today. 

After school we had a staff meeting and this is usually a time that I enjoy an afternoon snack. However, that wasn't the case today. Instead, I grabbed my water bottle and drank an entire 32oz during the meeting. 

The dinner shake was about the same as yesterday. The red pepper literally makes me hot while drinking it. 

I'm looking forward to Day 3 tomorrow and can't believe I've made it two days without chewing food! 

{Dr. Oz 3 Day Cleanse} Day 1

The past two weeks I have done really well sticking to a low calorie diet to ensure that my calories IN are less than my calories OUT. A couple of my friends from church completed the Dr. Oz 3 Day Cleanse and lost 9 and 10 pounds each and said they felt amazing afterwards! I decided it was the perfect opportunity to dedicate myself further to my weight loss challenge.

I printed out the 3 Day Detox plan and decided it wasn't going to be fun but I was going to do it! The lunch drink makes me super nervous. I don't like celery, cucumber or kale and just look at the first three ingredients. Yikes!

I begged my mom to go with me to the store because I knew that searching for items I don't usually purchase would be more than I could handle alone with two boys who don't share my love of shopping. After the longest grocery trip of my life I managed to find everything on the shopping list. Thank the Lord we didn't have to go to another store! 

I came home and unpacked everything to make sure I hadn't missed an essential item.

I felt healthier just by looking at all of this healthy food! 

Green Tea: I started the day with the recommended green tea and lemon. I'm not a huge fan of lemon but the flavor worked well with the green tea. 

Breakfast Shake: This shake tasted pretty good. I liked the fruity flavors and drank it pretty quickly. The one thing that made this shake unappealing is the seeds (I'm assuming from the raspberries). The seeds gave the shake a weird texture but the taste was good.

Lunch Shake: Ugh! This shake is HUGE and it is definitely lacking the fruity flavors that I enjoyed from the morning shake. It took me nearly three hours but I finally managed to drink the majority (I definitely wasn't scraping the cup clean) of the green concoction. On a positive note, I wasn't hungry at all at this point! ;) 

Dinner Shake: Thankfully this shake is much better than the lunch option. There is a little kick to it from the cayenne pepper! 

Y'all let me just say...after the lunch shake I was questioning whether or not I could do this for two more days. However, I'm thrilled to say that after my T25 workout and dinner shake I feel so motivated to continue for the next two days! 

I ended the day with the recommended Epsom salt and lavender detox bath and it was heavenly! How did I not know about this? If you don't do any other part of this cleanse, you HAVE to try this bath! 

Yay for surviving day one....bring on day 2! 

{Weight Loss Wednesday} Week 1

Let's take a picture walk through time shall we....

         Wedding                      1st baby                         2nd baby                    Currently

Can you guess my dilemma??

Brian and I got married in 2008 and I was the smallest that I had ever been! In 2010 our first born son, Elijah, was born. I lost quite a bit of weight after his delivery but never got back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. In 2013 our 2nd son, Griffin, was born. Again, I lost quite a bit of weight but am nowhere near where I was when I got married. This "current" picture is actually from Elijah's 4th birthday party last summer. It was extremely hard for me to find a current full body picture...wonder why??

I've decided that it is time to start my weight loss journey. No more saying I need to lose weight and not sticking with a diet, no more "I'll start my diet on Monday", no more excuses! I want to be healthy for my kids and for myself!

For Valentine's Day I asked the hubby for a Fitbit. He responded as any good husband would by saying I didn't need a Fitbit. I plead my case and hoped he would change his mind. Valentine's Day rolled around and sure enough he had gotten me one!

Now I know the Fitbit isn't a magic weight loss pill but it is definitely a huge motivator for me to be more active! I also downloaded the My Fitness Pal App and have linked it to my Fitbit. I am loving the combination of these two! My current weight loss plan is counting calories and increasing exercise. I make sure to get 10,000 steps per day and am working out with Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD.

I am already one week into this weight loss plan and am already down 4 pounds!! My goal is to lose a total of 30 pounds! Yikes! I am on track to lose 2 pounds a week (according to My Fitness Pal) so hopefully in 15 weeks I will have achieved my goal! That sounds like such a loooooong journey but I know that I can do it! I plan to use this little blog of mine as a way to hold myself accountable. I will weigh in each Wednesday and write about my progress, struggles, successes, etc. Check back in next week!

Family Command Center

We have a huge island in our kitchen that seems to serve the purpose of a giant bowl to catch all of our junk as we walk in the door each day! When we walk in the house our keys, mail, daycare papers, etc. all get piled on the island! No matter how much time I had spent cleaning the house that day I felt like it was a mess again the second I looked in the kitchen! Sound familiar? Introducing the "family command center". This is an idea that my friend, Abby, posted on Facebook and I quickly realized it was all over Pinterest. You know I can't resist a good Pinterest project!

My "Pinspiration" was all over the place for this project:

This was the first family command center I loved. I knew I needed wire magazine racks, a calendar, weekly meal plan and weekly Bible verse.

Next, I stumbled across this command center and loved how the kids each had their own bin. I also decided I would need to include an 'L' for our last name. 

After making a list of the items I needed I decided that I couldn't wait any longer to get started. Brian was at work and my mom was out for the day so I had no choice but to bring the boys shopping with me! Typically, I don't take the boys on shopping trips because it usually proves more difficult than productive. After a quick pep talk in the car I was ready to brave the first store, Hobby Lobby! I hit the jackpot and scored the following items for 50% off:

Chevron Wall Organizer 

Cream Floral 2-Level Magazine Holder

Broze Letter 'L'

Black Rustic Frame

I was so excited that everything I found was 50% off. As I was linking the items for this post it doesn't look like they are on sale currently. However, Hobby Lobby always rotates their sales so I'm sure if you check back periodically you will find them at a great price. The boys were amazing as I walked back and forth in the store trying to find the perfect items for this project. I decided to head to Target in search of a dry erase calendar. 

I found the perfect one on clearance for $8.99! Yay! 

I made one final stop at Home Goods and found a grey frame to use for the weekly menu. 

As soon as I arrived home and unloaded everything I was ready to get started putting our family command center together. 

I am so excited about how our family command center turned out! I love that everything has a home and will no longer live on our island. I think the weekly Bible verse will be an amazing addition to our family and I'm hopeful that the weekly meal plan will keep me from waiting until the last minute to make dinner plans. 

Snow Day 2015

Monday morning school was called off because of impending inclement weather. Seeing as the snow hadn't arrived yet, I headed to work to get a few things done. After a quick workday and meeting up with a friend for lunch I headed to pick up the boys. We headed home and anxiously awaited the arrival of the SNOW! As you can see, they were ready! When the snow began to fall I had two super excited boys on my hands.

For dinner we had the most delicious potato soup, which was perfect for the cold evening.

On Tuesday we woke up to a winter wonderland! Elijah had hardly woken up before he was begging to go outside to play in the snow! Seeing as I wasn't quite ready to face the freezing temperatures, we made "snow" they could play with indoors. I used baking soda and hair conditioner. I know this sounds absurd but it really is the coolest thing! The boys were engaged for an hour playing with their "snow"! An hour people...that is nearly an eternity in boy time!

After I held them off as long as possible, we bundled up and went outside to enjoy the snow. I'm pretty sure we spent longer getting dressed to go outside than we actually spent outside! Elijah loved the snow but Griffin wasn't a fan. He preferred sitting in sled and observing. 

When Griffin assured us that he was DONE with the snow we headed inside for lunch and his nap. 

Later that day, we decided to brave the cold once again to go sledding next door at my sister's house. Elijah loved every second of it and announced that it was "the best day EVER!" Again, Griffin much preferred being a spectator. 

  Griffin taking it all in...

 My niece, Kyleigh Kate, "racing" Elijah.

 Elijah had a blast!

 Silly boy!

 My sister, Katie, trying to get Griffin excited about the snow...

2nd attempt wasn't a success either!

We ended the day by enjoying pizza with some of the family and early bedtimes. I am so thankful to be able to be home on snow days with my boys and make memories that will last forever!

Living Room Makeover

Prior to Brian and I building our house, I had never decorated my own space before. When the decorating process began I wanted to paint the walls a color...I didn't want white walls everywhere! Soooo I chose a really bright green which I loved at the time! Looking back at this before picture I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking! Haha! 

Fast forward six years and we decided it was time for a change. I decided to go with Revere Pewter from Benjamin Moore. I'm obsessed with this color! It is the perfect neutral color. The first item we purchased for our living room makeover was these beautiful Nautica cabana striped curtains. My friend, Sara, recommended them for our living room and I LOVE them! 

My next mission was to find the perfect chair and end table for one of the corners in my living room. I search for what seemed like forever before finding the chair I couldn't live without at T.J. Maxx. Isn't this chair perfect? I actually found more than just the perfect chair during my trip to T.J. Maxx. I found the chair, pillow, end table, lamp and the letter "L" for our last name. All of which I just had to have and with their great prices I couldn't pass it up. Haha!

Once the sectional we order was delivered the room was complete! My mom gave me these fabulous pillows as a Christmas gift and they were perfect for the color scheme I was going for. I created a photo gallery above the couch with IKEA photo ledges and another DIY canvas of our latest family photo. 

I love love love how it turned out! And just because I love before and after pictures here is a side by side comparison! 

Valentine's Day Breakfast

Unfortunately, my hubby had to work this morning so I planned to make the boys a fun Valentine's Day breakfast. Cinnamon rolls are their favorite but I rarely make them since we are striving to make healthier choices.

I found this tutorial and got busy!

 I chose the Cinnabon edition of Pillsbury's cinnamon rolls because who doesn't like Cinnabon?

Begin by separating the preformed cinnamon rolls and locate the center of the roll where the spiral begins. Seeing as the cinnamon rolls aren't cut all the way through, you will need to take a knife and cut the spiral in order to form the heart shape. 

 Next, unroll the cinnamon roll into a straight-ish line.

Hold both ends and roll them towards the center.

To form the point, simply pinch together the middle. 

Place the adorable hearts into a 9in. round baking pan with the point towards the middle and bake according to the package directions. 

When finished baking, spread the yummy icing over the cinnamon rolls...be sure to put the most on the one you will be eating! Can you tell which one is mine?? Haha!

Ta-da! Look how adorable they are! They are just as yummy as they are cute! 

Happy Valentine's Day! Enjoy!